...Or, what should we pray for, and how do we have faith that we’ll receive what we ask for?  This question came up in a recent conversation with a friend.  I was saying that I don’t think we really know what is best for us.  My five year-old likes candy.  That does not mean that a diet of candy is what is best for him.  He does not understand why it is not.  If he were to ask for the diet of his choice, he would choose a diet of candy.

I was telling him I’m convinced that we know as little about what is really good for us as my five year-old son.  That I like “candy” an easy life, relief from trials and troubles without pain and struggle.  But that we don’t grow without facing, battling, and overcoming resistance - that’s a universal law.  It’s in the Bible, it’s in every aspect of nature.  So the “candy” I want may not be what is best for me.  So my friend asks, “If you’re right how can I have faith for anything that I pray for?”.  Great question… one that I used to really struggle with but now feel completely at peace with.

Romans 8:31-32
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

My take on this verse (and many others like it) is different than most that I have heard (imagine that, I have a minority and unusual take on things - a shocker, right?).  Anyway, my take on this is that I don’t NEED to know what is best for me. God knows.  And “how will He not also… graciously give us all things?”.  Really… how could we imagine that He wouldn’t.  I don’t need to make it happen.  I have complete trust and confidence in His plan for me, and His desire and ability to give me all good things according to His plan (hmm… sounds like a real definition of FAITH to me).  So I pray for His plan.  I ask Him to reveal His will and bring it about in my life.  I ask Him to help me overcome my presumptions, my nature, my desires, and replace them with His.

Oh… yeah, I almost forgot.  It seems that someone once asked Jesus this question as well.  What should we pray for?

Luke 11:1-4
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

I know God’s plan for me is good.  I know too many Christians who take my general position but misuse it to justify resignation with a situation that is not God’s plan… “well, it must be God’s will… or God must be trying to teach me something…” That misses the mark entirely.  I am a fighter, and God expects that of all of us.  Yes, I belive God always has a plan for us to grow through adversity.  But you don’t build muscle mass by laying on a bench with the bar across your neck choking you.  You grow by resisting, fighting, and learning to rely on and trust Him to reveal His plan and His deliverance.  The other extreme says that I know there is no plan of God, no benefit, and no way God has any purpose for any suffering or difficulty in my life, so I’ll layout the specific plan and outcome I want to see and will pray for and claim that.  The problem there is that we don’t know specifics.  We know to fight, and we know expect His deliverance… but not OUR plan for deliverance.  I think that is a recipe for disappointment and a resulting lack of confidence in Him.  His plan is almost never ours… we think too small.. and then we don’t get our “candy” and we lose faith.  His plan is too big and too good for us to know in full.

So, how should we pray?  I’ll go with Jesus’ explicit instruction and ask God to reveal and execute His plan and His deliverance, and I won’t limit Him to the “candy” I want.  I know that’s crazy talk… but sometimes I just get carried away with thinking Jesus actually knew something.